FROM: DR. ODIDA OKUTHE

Prof Ongeri should step aside not because he is culpable but because he is the minister responsible for the ministry which has lost Sh. 4.6 billion. His stepping aside will facilitate transparent investigations, which according to me are most likely going to clear his name. When this happens then he will emerge much stronger as a political leader. He should not blame the junior officers under him since doing so is not only against common logic but too low for his integrity and status.

Meanwhile we demand that the ministry of finance with speed publishes the names and tribe of all finance officers seconded to the ministry of education, let alone primary education, to deal with the disbursement of the the said lost fund. Before this is done Prof Saitoti, PS Kinyua and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta must step aside to facilitate the investigations and the ensuing prosecutions.

My bet is as good as yours that the PS Kinyua, Prof Saitoti and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta might come out less clean compared to Prof Ongeri if this list reveals what the past experience has taught us about those citizens with a predilection to and a higher propensity to grabbing money. Before investigations we cannot blame anybody as nobody has been proven guilty yet.

Prof Ongeri should not lower his status by claiming that people demanding his stepping aside are from the same community since his name too begins with an ”O” yet he is not Luo! Okiya Omutata for example is not a Luo, but a Luhya, yet his names begin with an ”O”! Ongeri is much a Luo name as it is a Kisii name too! What is in a name the great professor? It should not be lost to the great professor that he is a minister for the whole country not just for the Kissii and non-Luos!

Exposing the names of the treasury officers seconded to the ministry of primary education will go along way in explaining why President Kibaki cannot sack Ongeri.

DR. ODIDA OKUTHE